CURLEW. 235 



some size, nearly a pound in average weight, and very good eating. 

 Would that it were common here, but Herefordshire cannot offer 

 the wild desolate moorland districts, and barren tracts of ground, it 

 delights to visit. One specimen only is recorded as having been 

 killed in the county. This was shot at the mouth of the river 

 Lugg, in April, 1881, and is now in the Hereford Museum. 



NUMENIUS ARQUATA— Curlew. 



Now wild and harsh the moorlanl music floats, 



And clam'rous Curlev\'s scream with long-drawn notes. 



Leyden — Scenes of Infancy. 



The wild cries of the Curlew are so associated with the retired 



moorland districts the bird frequents, that they seem peculiarly 



appropriate to each other. The sounds uttered in their ordinary 



flight are well represented by the words, " corlieu " or " courlie," 



and from hence the bird derives its English and French names ; 



but should an intruder approach their eggs, or young, the old 



birds dash towards him and about him, with loud noisy screams 



that proclaim their anxiety, repeated again and again until they 



are left in peace. 



Round his grey head the wild Curlew, 

 In many a fearless circle flew. 



Scott — The Lord of the Isles. 



Scream'd o'er the moss the scared Curlew. 



Scott — Harold the Dauntless. 



Throughout Scotland the Curlew is called a "Whaap" or 

 "Whaup," which means a goblin with a long beak. Sir Walter Scott 

 refers to this in the Black Dwarf (chap, ii.), where he makes Hobbie 

 Elliot say : " What needs I care for the ^Mucklestane-Moor ony mair 

 than ye do yoursell, Earnscliff? To be sure, they do say there's a 

 sort o' worricows and lang-nebbit things about the land, but what 

 need I care for them ? " The same feeling of superstition is to be 

 found at the fag end of a Highlander's prayer to be saved "from 

 witches, warlocks, and aw lang-nebbed things." Sax by says that 



